This is a private photograph taken in Sinaia, in the Transylvanian Alps, in October 1896 when Prince Alfred of Saxe-Coburg, visited his sister the Crown Princess of Romania. In the same period, Marie’s Russian cousins made a visit at Sinaia. In the image, (right to left), you can see Boris, Grand Duke of Russia together with Marie and Alfred. The royal guests brought a happy atmosphere opposite to the rigidity at King Carol’s court in Bucharest. This happiness exuded by the young royals and aristocrats was often misunderstood and some believed that a love affair between Boris and Marie was a possibility, denied by Marie in a letter to her mother.

In the fall of 1896, Missy’s brother, Alfred, and their cousin, Grand Duke Boris of Russia, came to Sinaia for a visit. Enrolled in the German Army at Potsdam after the dismissal of Dr. Rolfs, Alfred had begun to make up for the deprivations of his childhood with women and alcohol. He was well on the way to destroying his health when his parents sent him to his sister.

“I will certainly talk to him as you wish it,” Missy assured her mother, “& I am sure I shall find the words enough, because I find the whole thing so loathsome.” In spite of a loving relationship with her brother, Marie was insuccessful in her attempts to reform him: …….how will one ever be able to do anything as long as those horrobile things are …found quite natural by most, and encouraged,: the Crown Princess wrote to her mother.

Although Alred was a worry to Marie, Boris was an amusing companion. Inlike her brother, Boris was not her responsibility. Unlike her husband , he was full of energy. Boris, she said, is “not as lazy as Nando who sits and yawns. But her cousin’s lengthy stay and obvious adoration started royal gossip and drew admonishment from her mother. What was Missy thinking of? Did she prefer Boris to her husband?

The Crown Princess was surprised and hurt. She tried to explain how lonely her life was with Nando, how “very different” their temperants were, and how much because of that, she enjoyed her guests.